Being government sure is different from lashing out with angry criticism at government, it seems.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is on record, only a few years ago, insisting that the New York Police Department be defunded.
“We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD,” he wrote at the time.
We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.
What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.
But your deal with @NYCMayor uses budget tricks to keep as many cops as possible on the beat.
NO to fake cuts – defund the police. https://t.co/2RCXU8heg2
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) June 29, 2020
Now that he’s mayor and his wife in planning a trip to visit relatives in Syria and Lebanon, there are reports that there’s a New York City police detachment assigned to accompany her.
Or not, depending on those making the statements.
The New York Post reports, “Zohran Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji is heading to Syria and Lebanon next month – and expects to bring along cops assigned to the first couple’s taxpayer-funded NYPD detail, The Post has learned.”
The report explains Duwaji will be jetting to the Middle East for a trip beginning Sept. 20 to the countries on the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list for Americans because of dangerous conditions.
NYC first lady Rama Duwaji traveling to Syria, Lebanon – with taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail: sources https://t.co/GjC4lrKnQC pic.twitter.com/bdFk8noJ81
— New York Post (@nypost) August 11, 2026
Confusion as NYPD denies City Hall claim Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji will get police escort on Syria, Lebanon trip https://t.co/okGdWN1v6E pic.twitter.com/EYrSXkoBuw
— New York Post (@nypost) August 11, 2026
NYC First Lady Taking NYPD Officers Into Do Not Travel Zones
New York City First Lady Rama Duwaji is planning a personal trip to Syria and Lebanon next month — and she’s bringing along a taxpayer-funded NYPD security detail.
Both countries sit on the State Department’s Do Not… pic.twitter.com/fHvFYYVEYK
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) August 11, 2026
The Post confirmed Mamdani’s spouse, a “private person,” requested NYPD security protection.
Duwaji, 29, had called herself a Syrian-American artist, has ties to the region.
Mamdani’s office confirmed the protection plan, “Upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the First Lady’s security detail will be joining her when she travels to visit family in Syria and Lebanon,” an official confirmed.
Then confusion took over, as the police department denied that very statement, with a spokesperson insisting, “The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level four travel advisories for discretionary reasons not linked to investigative work. This is not an investigative trip, and therefore, NYPD personnel will not be traveling there for it.”
Like her husband, Duwaji is known for her pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel views.
She previously has insisted Tel Avia “shouldn’t exist.”
A report from RedState said Mamdani’s office claimed police suggested the protection.
“As is often the case with the communist mayor, that story fell apart rather quickly. The police department swiftly shut down any notion that they’d be sending officers to unstable conflict zones.”
It pointed out that Bronx Assemblyman Dov Hikind warned, “We’re putting the police officers in danger. They will be viewed as the bad guys. These are war zones.”
It observed, “The request for an NYPD security detail looks especially rich coming from a mayor who built much of his political brand on calls to defund the police and slash the size of the department. It is hard to miss the contradiction when someone who once pushed to cut hundreds of officers suddenly wants those same cops to protect his family on a completely unnecessary overseas trip.”
